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recognition

Dr. Cal Stiller, at his home in London, Ont., last week, has won the Gairdner Award, a prestigious Canadian international award often referred to as Canada's Nobel Prize. Dr. Stiller is a researcher in organ transplants and a founding of the think tank MaRS.Dave Chidley/The Globe and Mail

Cal Stiller was one of the first people to say Canada must aggressively pursue commercial development of homegrown research if it wants to compete on the world stage.

It was a bold move in a country known for keeping business and science separate.

But his vision helped generate hundreds of millions of research dollars and changed the course of medical research in Canada.

Now, Dr. Stiller, a physician, professor and entrepreneur, is being recognized for those contributions with a Canada Gairdner Award, one of the most prestigious international medical honours. The seven recipients of the 2010 Gairdners were announced yesterday in Toronto.

Dr. Stiller, 69, will also be inducted this month into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, an honour he calls surprising, considering that the original idea for the hall of fame was his.

"I'm incredulous," Dr. Stiller said in a recent interview. "Neither of them did I ever dream of receiving, so it's quite extraordinary."

Dr. Stiller helped found London's Robarts Research Institute, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, a not-for-profit institute designed to support technological innovation in fields such as life sciences and health care. He also helped create the Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund, a biotechnology venture capital firm.

MaRS is one of the best examples of Dr. Stiller's vision. It receives government and private funds and focuses on commercial opportunities for promising research emerging from academic institutions in Toronto, and helps connect start-up technology companies with business leaders.

"He is a true initiator of things and not only has a vision, but really does all the convincing and the mustering of resources to get things to happen," said Tom Hudson, president and scientific director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.

Before he was an institutional leader, Dr. Stiller ran a major Canadian trial on cyclosporine, a drug used to prevent rejection of organ transplants, that led to its worldwide adoption. Related research also revealed Type 1 diabetes to be an immune disorder, leading to important changes in how the disease is studied. And his work with transplant patients led him to create the one of the world's first comprehensive organ transplant centres.

Dr. Stiller said Canada still seriously lacks the kind of venture capital needed to finance important research that could lead to groundbreaking new treatments.

"I see companies ... that are withering on the vine because they can't find the investors who are prepared to take the risk," Dr. Stiller said.

Another problem is the country's inhospitable attitude toward commercial development that could turn research into practical treatments. While that has started to change, Dr. Stiller said it has held Canada back from becoming a competitive place that could produce important new therapies.

Now, Dr. Stiller is thinking of starting a major public-private institute that would serve as a hub for research and drug development. His vision is for Ontario to rival Switzerland as a leading producer of pharmaceuticals and create an industry that could outpace the automotive sector in terms of jobs.

The Gairdner awards are distributed annually to researchers who have made significant discoveries or contributions to medical science and have a well-earned reputation for identifying the work of future Nobel Prize winners. The awards come with a $100,000 cash prize and will be officially presented in October. Dr. Stiller will receive the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award, given to a Canadian who demonstrates leadership in the medical field. Five other recipients will receive Canada Gairdner International Awards, while another winner will be honoured with the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, recognizing work that could have a significant impact on health in the developing world.

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This year's Canada Gairdner Awards are honouring some of the world's top scientists who are conducting groundbreaking research that could have important implications for the treatment of cancer, circulatory diseases, chronic pain and many other conditions. Historically, a significant number of Gairdner award winners have gone on to win the Nobel prize. In addition to Cal Stiller, here is a list of this year's award winners:

William Catterall, professor and chair of the pharmacology department at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Catterall isolated sodium and calcium proteins that are vital to electrical signalling, which is how the brain and body communicate. This is important because many diseases and health problems are linked to problems with those electrical signals. Knowing how they work means it may be possible to block certain signals, such as chronic pain or epileptic seizures.

Pierre Chambon, director of the Institute for Genetics and Cellular and Molecular Biology in Strasbourg. Dr. Chambon is one of the world's leading experts on gene structure and regulation, and is being honoured for mapping out nuclear receptors and helping reveal how DNA transcription, the first step in gene expression, works. His work could lead to personalized medicine that targets certain gene receptors in order to prevent or treat disease.

William Kaelin, professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School and Peter Ratcliffe, Nuffield professor of clinical medicine at Oxford University. They share an award for uncovering how the body recognizes and responds to oxygen levels, a fundamental process that could lead to groundbreaking treatments for people with circulatory diseases, anemia and other serious problems.

Gregg Semenza, C. Michael Armstrong professor of medicine and director of the program in vascular cell engineering at the Institute for Cell Engineering at John Hopkins University School of Medicine. He discovered how the body identifies and reacts to changes in oxygen levels, which could lead to treatments that stimulate or block a response to low oxygen levels. For instance, it may be possible to cut off the oxygen supply to tumour cells.

Nicholas White, professor of tropical medicine at Mahidol University Bangkok and Oxford University. He earned the Gairdner Global Health Award for demonstrating that a plant compound used in traditional Chinese medicine is a potent, effective treatment for malaria.

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